Future of Briggs..

How long will they last building engines with plastic pistons?

Do you honestly think that Briggs would utilize plastic pistons without conducting massive research and thousands of hours of field testing?

(quoted from post at 04:52:02 10/07/16) Do you honestly think that Briggs would utilize plastic pistons without conducting massive research and thousands of hours of field testing?

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2001

Following the procedure outlined above, a piston for a 5-horsepower Briggs-Stratton racing engine was fabricated. The body portion of the piston including the piston boss was formed from a glas fiber reinforced epoxy resin bulk molding compound containing about 60% glass fibers. The cap member 14 was made from 6061 aluminum alloy having a T-3 temper. The dimensions of the piston were substantially identical to the dimensions of the piston in the Briggs engine performance version, with the exception, however, that the outer diameter of the cap was approximately 0.030 inches smaller than the diameter of the piston skirt portion, in order to accommodate for the expansion of aluminum during use. The thickness of cap 14 was 0.060 inches. The piston was formed by compression molding the fiber reinforced resin material in an appropriate mold containing the aluminum cap so that the aluminum cap became bonded to and interlocked with the head portion of the base structure. The molding was actually conducted at 300° F. and at a pressure of 3000 psig. After fabricating the piston, it was weighed and found to be 25% lighter than the normal metal piston used in such an engine.

The piston so fabricated was field tested in a racing vehicle for over 250,000 load cycles (revolutions of the crankshaft) without failure.

Might be an improvement over some of the junk they're putting out these days.

And your point is???????

I recall back in the '80s they said that one day the pistons in a car would be made of a ceramic material. Like the tiles on the space shuttle. I guess that day is almost here.

Education education Try it rather than snide criticize.

Longer than Kohler building the Courage single 20!

250,000 revolutions is 69 minutes of run time at 3600 rpm. Not enough to even mow my lawn, but if it's a race engine, it doesn't need to run forever. I'm sure when aluminum pistons came out people were saying it'd never work and they must be cast iron.
AaronSEIA

The Vanguard BIG BLOCK EFIs are quickly gaining a stellar reputation.
Very few teething pains.

The LCO (lawn care cos.) guys really like 'em when they can get 'em on their particular brand of eq.

Kawasaki seems the laggard right now.

Sounds like Yamaha is entering the Turf industry with Delphi EFI engines.

Well they call them briggs and stranded for a reason!!!!

(quoted from post at 04:18:30 10/08/16) 250,000 revolutions is 69 minutes of run time at 3600 rpm. Not enough to even mow my lawn, but if it's a race engine, it doesn't need to run forever. I'm sure when aluminum pistons came out people were saying it'd never work and they must be cast iron.
AaronSEIA

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You have to realize that the portion of the article was just part of a full report. And it also was during an experimental test on a new composite piston.. As far as a race engine goes. Two guys here race karts with 5hp Briggs engine blocks that are built and runs between 5 to 8000 rpm.

Then you must remember that a lot of people said that a small mower engine would never work using a composite Cam and cam gears.. Wasn't it Briggs that developed them years ago?